2,310 lives lost to road carnages so far in 2020 – MTTD

Road carnages claim 2,310 lives by November 2020, according to provisional data compiled by the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service obtained by the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday.

The eleven months total data remains higher than the total lives lost in 2019 standing at 2,284 a difference of 28.

This stands to be the highest figure of road deaths recorded in the last decade even without figures for December 2020; aside 2019, 2012 recorded 2,240 deaths and 2015 recorded the least fatal crashes at 1,802.

The Ashanti Region recorded the most casualties of 497, higher than its 2019 figure of 448.

The Eastern Region as at November 2020 had lost 341 lives to place third in the roll.

Greater Accra recorded 410 as against 449 recorded last year with Accra alone recording 247 related deaths in the period under review; North East Region featured the least lives lost with 12 recorded cases.

This year’s data covered all the 16 Regions: Central Region recorded 221; Western Region 106; Volta Region 120; Northern Region 60; Upper West Region 52; Upper East Region 66; Bono Region 102; Bono East Region 129; Ahafo Region 62; Oti Region 30; Savanna Region 28; and West-North Region 74.

Crashes involving private cars recorded 9,050, commercial vehicles recorded 8,446 and Motor or Cycle clashes at 5,111.

The report from January to November 2020 showed total clashes of 22,607 vehicles were involved; while 2,442 pedestrians were knocked down and 13,787 persons were injured.

The National Road Safety Commission has noted that the nation loses over $230 million annually due to road crashes and within the last 28 years, over 46,000 Ghanaians have been killed in road accidents nationwide.

According to the Commission inattention and over-speeding on the part of drivers remained the leading causes of road crashes in recent times.